Today, I took a day off from blogging and invited my husband Stephen to do a guest post. He accepted. He writes a technical blog about electronics at Skywired.net. Feel free to stop by.
Enjoy his post, I’ll be back tomorrow!
Lyn
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A few months ago, we got an Akron Zoo membership. I don’t quite remember why Akron instead of Cleveland, but I think the idea was that Lyn’s parents, who live in Akron, would find it easier to go to their local zoo with Nick and Sally. Today, though, Lyn wanted to go to her parents’ house to do help out with some housework and the like, so Nick and Sally took me to the Akron Zoo without Lyn.
It was the first time any of the three of us had been to this zoo. I had been warned numerous times that Akron’s Zoo was smaller than Cleveland’s. It may well have been, but I would not have noticed. I let Nick and Sally set the pace, and there was plenty of zoo we did not see. That’s fine – it’s more to see next time. That philosophy is a big change for me, but Lyn introduced me to the idea that if you become a member of a zoo or museum, it is perfectly OK to visit for a half an hour or to not see the whole thing. I was brought up with the philosophy that if you were paying for admission, you were going to stay until you saw everything, period. This relaxed approach was a change, but it is one I enjoy, and I’d recommend buying a membership at any institution you might like to explore in depth over the course of a year.
Right after walking through the gate, we saw the penguins. Sally was not sure about them initially, until she started watching them swim underwater. From on top of my shoulders, the view was not to her liking, but on the ground, her height was perfect to watch them swim. Gales of giggles emerged every time a penguin swam by, which touched off chuckles in some of the surrounding adults…
After that, it was off to visit some fellow primates in the lemur house. Nick was fascinated, as evident from his studious look.
Before we left for the zoo, Nick asked to see a lion and a tiger, so we followed the signs in that direction. First, though, we came across a carousel. “Oooh, Daddy, I want to go on that!” It turns out that he is just tall enough to ride alone under their rules, which was nice because then I could escort Sally. Had he been an inch shorter, I would have needed to quickly divide into two in order to let them ride.
Sally was initially excited as the carousel started up, but as it reached cruising speed, she got a little doubtful and wanted to be held. Nick loved his ride on a penguin.
Carousel ride over, we found Nick his tiger. We found the lion too, sort of. It was a hot day, and the lions were sensibly taking a nap in the shade behind a rock. All we could see was a bit of mane and a left flank. Venturing on, though, we less-sensible primates found our quarry:
It was time to meet Lyn and her parents for lunch. On the way out we stopped for photos at one last carousel animal. Sally found this one more to her liking.
All in all, it was quite a successful outing. We all had fun.
As we drove back to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, we sang the Peter, Paul, and Mary song that titles this post:
We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo.
How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too.
We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!
